


When She Bleeds

by Emily_F6



Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Female Peter Parker, Gen, Penny Parker - Freeform, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is doing his best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26940235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emily_F6/pseuds/Emily_F6
Summary: The first pictures came to Tony's office, through his mail, placed in a large manilla envelope with no return address.orThere is a serial killer loose in New York, and Penny makes a bad choice.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Whumptober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952845
Comments: 30
Kudos: 253





	1. Chapter 1

**_Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. I appreciate all of you so much! hope you like this chapter, and there will be a follow up tomorrow._ **

The first pictures came to Tony's office, through his mail, placed in a large manilla envelope with no return address. Nothing with no return address, especially something addressed to him in black sharpie, got through to his mail. Most things, from hate mail and threatening letters to random birthday party invites and personal letters went into their own piles to be sorted through later. But this particular envelope was opened and then closed once more by his staff, and Erin Duong, a fairly new SI employee who worked in his mail room, came to his office personally, the envelope in his hand.

Tony looked up from his work when her knuckles tapped against his open door, and it took a moment to place her name. "Miss Duong. How can I help you?" he asked, pushing himself to his feet. The woman's eyes darted down the hallway, and that's when he'd known that something was wrong. "Please, come in," he urged, stepping around to the other side of the desk as Erin stepped into the room, hesitating only a moment before shutting the door behind her.

It was strange, and they both knew it. Mailroom staff didn't come to his office. It wasn't that they weren't allowed. They just...didn't do it. Ever. Once or twice a month, he made a point to take a tour of the building, checking in with employees he didn't usually see and doing his best to commit their names to memory. He'd met her a few weeks ago, and occasionally Friday would bring up photos of his employees while he was working and quiz him on names.

He had a 43% success rate, which he argued wasn't that bad.

Erin hesitated for a moment, then when she spoke, her voice was soft. Subdued. "Sir...I was in the mail room, looking through today's mail, and...I found this. I believe...I think you'll want to see this."

Eyes narrowing in confusion, he nodded, taking the envelope when she placed it in his hands. Opening the already ripped flap, he glanced inside, then pulled out the photos, his blood turning to ice as soon as he saw the first one.

Penny, backpack thrown over her shoulder, a smile on her face as she turned to Ned who seemed to be speaking, the two of them in front of her school. The next one, Penny, leaving her apartment building, a scarf wrapped around her neck, a purse slung over her shoulder. In the third, she was climbing into the back of Happy's car. He could vaguely see his head of security, the man, arm thrown over the front seat, body twisted around as he spoke to her.

And in all of the pictures, there was a target on her face. He reached into the envelope, heart pounding in his ears, but found nothing else. No note. Nothing.

Then he flipped the photos over then, eyes scanning the blood-red letters, written in dripping ink on each photo, a dozen times before his brain managed to make sense of them.

'Such a pretty girl.'

"Has there been anything else like this?" His voice was cold. Flat.

"No, sir."

"Anything about Penelope Parker?"

"No, sir."

"There's no stamp...so...so someone dropped it off?"

"Yes, sir, but I don't know who." The woman's eyes were glued to the floor, as if waiting for a reprimand, and Tony forced himself to take a breath.

"Okay. I'll have Friday try to figure it out. Thank you. Can you keep an eye out for anything else involving my interns?" As if he had more than one.

"Of course."

Tony didn't tell Penny. But he did tell Happy. Warned him to keep an eye out. He also stationed several of his security staff around her building. And her school. All plain-clothes of course. And he started having her over to the tower more often, giving no explanation for the more frequent movie nights and lab days. But she noticed, of course. And three weeks after he got the letters, while Penny was sitting next to him on the sofa, the two of them sharing a bowl of popcorn, she finally asked. "Mr. Stark?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"What's going on?" She didn't ask angrily. Didn't complain about the fact that he'd been picking her up from school several days a week, or that he'd asked her not to patrol after dark, or that he'd been checking in with her every day. In fact, he thought he was happy about those things. Happy to spend more time with him. And he would have felt the same way if it weren't for the pictures in the Manila envelope that he'd given to Happy to file away as a security threat.

His old friend had paled when he'd seen them the first time, swallowing hard and shaking his head. "What the fuck, Tony?"

"I know."

"Who the hell would send you this?"

"I'm going to find out." The rest was implied. That he would demand answers from them. That he would hand them over to someone smiled in interrogation and maybe even torture to find out why the hell they'd thought it was a good idea to threaten Tony'a kid.

Unlike Happy, Penny's voice was small. Hesitant. Almost afraid. And he couldn't lie to her. Not when someone might be after her because of him. Not when she was in danger.

"A few weeks ago, I got...some pictures. In the mail here at the tower."

"Pictures?" she asked, looking up from her popcorn. He gestured to the TV and Friday paused the movie.

"Pictures of you."

"Me," she repeated, brow furrowing in confusion.

"You. Penny Parker. Nothing about Spider-Girl. I've got security watching May 24/7. Your building. Your school. Whole nine yards."

"Okay…" Penny murmured, nodding and trying not to look afraid. She never wanted to look afraid. Instead, she tried to seem serious and ready, which should have been his first clue as to what would happen. "So...who sent them?"

"No idea. I've got Friday on the lookout."

And that had been it. She'd apparently trusted him.

He should have known better. Why hadn't he known better? Why hadn't he nipped it in the bud right there? He should have known that Penny Parker didn't let things go.

The news stories on the New York Lady Killer came too late. By the time it was big enough to gain enough attention to get on the news that Tony was watching, it was too late. They thought it was a man. Assumed it was a man. The women skewed young and were mostly found in alleys by the river, with marks on their wrists that looked to be left by rope. Thin rope, tied too tightly. A few of them were drugged. One was strangled. Three of them were found with their throats cut. All young. All women. But other than an assumed gender, they'd known nothing.

Penny went missing after school on a Tuesday.

That's when Tony got the next envelope, Erin Duong using the emergency override to take the elevator to his penthouse where he stood in the living room with Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy. The only ones he had left. Ever since the call from May, letting him know that Penny hadn't come home after school, and that she couldn't reach her, his heart had been racing, jumping into his throat and staying there. Penny was gone. Her phone was turned off. But it wasn't until he saw Erin standing in the elevator, the envelope clutched in her shaking hand, that he truly started to panic.

Rhodey was the one that grabbed the envelope from Erin's shaking hand, dumping the photos out and staring at the them along with the Tony and Pepper. They were all Penny, sans target this time. All in full color, showing off the blood that ran from her nose and the corner of her mouth. Face too pale. Eyes unfocused. Hands tied to a headboard, body limp on a bare mattress, ankles tied together to the footboard. Drugged. She had to be drugged.

And on the back, in those same red, dripping letters, was another message.

"She's even prettier when she bleeds."

Tony threw up in the trash can, dropping to his knees as Pepper clutched his shoulders, and Rhodey pulled out a cellphone, pressing it to his ear. "Steve," he heard the man say in a clipped voice. "We need your help. Right now."

May practically moved into the tower as Tony and the Avengers combed the city, with Happy alternating days spent with her, making sure security at the tower was foolproof, and driving around the city. They found her phone first, cracked and covered in blood in an alley. An alley by the river. Penny has no reason to be by the river. She had no reason to be there.

So, Tony realized, she had known. She'd used herself as bait. And he couldn't even be angry because every minute of every day he felt like throwing up. Like he might lose it at any second. Steve Rogers and the rogues were helping, looking in every warehouse and every alley. Tony went on the news and offered a cash reward. He doubled it every night. Pepper went on live TV daily, giving updates on the search and asking for the public's help.

The Lady Killer typically held the women for a week, the news reported before showing Penny's school photo. It had been eight days. Every day, Tony waited for the report from Friday or one of the news outlets or one of the rogues to give him the inevitable news. To tell him that Penny was gone. Truly gone. That he couldn't save her. That he'd failed.

Sam Wilson was the one to find her, and he called Tony immediately. "Tony? We got her."

Tony didn't ask about her kidnapper. He knew that if Natasha was around, she would take care of him. Instead, he flew straight to the coordinates that Sam had given him, bursting through the front doors of the house. A house. A normal looking house in the suburbs. Penny had been held in the basement. The basement of a blue house with a white door and a christmas wreath in the suburbs.

Sam was kneeling beside her, and he must have searched the house for a blanket because she was covered from neck to ankle with a throw covered in puppies. Her wrists bled sluggishly, arms limp at her sides, and the man was rubbing her bare feet. "She lost circulation. We've got to get her to the tower, now. She needs medical"

Tony just nodded, dropping to his knees at her side, a hand coming to rest on her pale cheek. She didn't look at him. Didn't even open her eyes. "What did they give her?" Tony choked out, his voice breaking as he held his fingers to her throat, feeling for a pulse. She looked dead. But she couldn't be dead. Not her. Not Penny.

She was breathing. She wasn't dead because she was breathing and her lips were tinged blue but she was breathing.

"I've got all of the drugs in my bag. Guy's name is Fred Martin. He's a vet. He was giving her horse tranquilizers by the bucket. She's having trouble breathing. We have to get her on oxygen. She lost circulation to her hands and feet." Sam muttered the words as if to himself, jaw tight, eyes staring at her pale, bluish feet with a laser focus. The man wasn't seeing her as Spider-Girl, Tony knew, even though the rogues all knew now...had been told on the off chance that the information might help them find her. He was seeing her the same way Tony did, as a fifteen year old girl. A child. A scared, hurt child. It was why Sam's hands shook as he tried to warm her feet and why his shoulders were so tense they were nearly up to his ears.

"What else?" Tony demanded, grabbing one of her hands and rubbing it gently, adjusting the blanket over her shoulder.

"Her clothes are ruined but she was dressed. Wanda is upstairs looking for clothes and a first aid kit. There's a lot of scarring on her stomach and her legs. I think he figured it out...he was testing her metabolism. Seeing how fast she could heal."

"Nat has him?" Tony confirmed.

"Yeah."

"Did she kill him?"

"Not yet. She's getting information."

"Here." The familiar voice made Tony jump, and he turned to find Wanda, a bag in her hand. He hadn't even heard her come downstairs. "I'm going to get her changed."

Tony didn't want to leave. Didn't want to let go of the girl's hand. He was crying, he realized, his heart racing in his chest, and he felt like he might throw up again any moment. But he stood anyway, following Sam out of the room. As soon as the door shut behind him, he dropped, sitting down hard on the floor and gasping into his knees as tears ran down his cheeks, heart racing.

She could have been dead. How much longer would she have survived? How much longer until that murdering psychopath would have gotten bored with her?

"Tony…" Sam murmured, kneeling at his side, a hand resting on his shoulder and squeezing. "Hey, we've got her."

Tony shook his head. "She was trying to catch him."

"She's going to be okay."

He glared up at the other man, knowing his anger was misplaced. "She was using herself as bait! And now…"

"And now she's safe." Sam cut in, voice hard. "And when she's hooked up to oxygen and pumped full of pain meds, you can talk to her about using herself as bait to catch serial killers. Until then, she needs you. Okay? She needs you, and that means you've gotta pull it together. And if you can't, you have to take the time you need to pull it together somewhere. Because that girl is going to be traumatized and scared and she needs you in your right mind. Okay? If you start freaking out, she's going to freak out."

Tony took a deep breath, forcing himself to nod.

"You gonna be okay to ride with her while we get her to the tower?"

"Yeah." He had to. He had to be okay with it. Because Penny was his kid and she'd just been through hell and he was going to be there for her if it killed him. So when Wanda called for them to come back in, Tony went straight to her side, glad that Wanda had cleaned her up and dressed her in what looked to be warm clothes, then rewrapped her in a new blanket, this one with a wolf howling at the moon.

Still, the girl didn't move even when Tony took her hand, squeezing gently and wincing at the already-bloody gauze that Wanda had wrapped around her wrists.

"Hey, honey. I'm right here. I'm gonna be right here with you, okay?"

If the girl heard him, she didn't give any indication. But Tony didn't care. He was never letting this kid out of his sight ever again.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thank you so much to everyone that has been reading and reviewing! I appreciate you all so much!! I hope you like part 2 to yesterday's prompt!** _

Tony was gonna kill this kid.

No. Even that thought made a shudder run through his entire body, mind flashing back to the basement. To when Sam had found the girl, covered in blood, drugged and tied up in the basement of a veterinarian's subdivision house. So no, he couldn't think about Penny dying. Not even as a joke. Not after what she'd been through. Not after he'd sat at her side for house while she'd come off of the drugs, shaking and throwing up and hooked up to IVs to keep her hydrated. Not after she'd woken up screaming over and over those first few days, eyes wild and horrified as they darted around the room, as though she expected herself to be there again. Not after he'd climbed into the bed beside her, pulling her into his arms and rocking her back and forth and murmuring, over and over, that it was okay. That she was safe. And then he'd scooted over to make room for May to do the same, shushing her and kissing her forehead and promising and promising and promising. Penny would be okay. Penny would be safe. They had her. She was in the tower.

That man couldn't hurt her again. Natasha had taken care of him.

It had taken a week for Penny to open her eyes and make it through a conversation or choke down a meal without breaking down. To sleep through a single night without nightmares. Sam came into her room in the medbay where she stayed for observation every day, and Tony and May took a break to eat and talk and try to feel normal while the two of them did something like therapy, even if he never called it that. Tony got some work done and May made phone calls to work and to friends, then joined Pepper for walks. Sometimes they took naps. But they almost never left the building. It had felt impossible to leave the tower...to be so far away from her when it felt like she could have so easily slipped through their fingers.

It had taken two weeks for her to go back to school, which now had a new security company that was vetted by Happy Hogan, with each guard being hired directly by him.

A month for her to be cleared for Spider-Girl. For Helen to run her through a myriad of physical tests and for Sam to give her a psychological evaluation and for both of them to agree that she could go back to patrolling, as long as it was nothing serious. Traffic control. Giving tourists directions. Stopping muggers and maybe shoplifters.

And Penny had agreed.

She never spoke to Tony or May about what had happened, beyond whispers after nightmares that she was scared. That she didn't want to go back. Otherwise, she didn't speak a word of it, except, presumably, to Sam during their almost daily therapy sessions that slowly tapered off into weekly sessions, and then, by the time three months had passed, they were more like occasional texts and phone calls. And Tony didn't ask. As far as he knew, May didn't either.

He knew there were lingering effects. PTSD. He'd catch her rubbing at her wrists sometimes where the scars could still be seen. Faint, but still there. She didn't like to be in dark rooms, and didn't like closed doors. May had told him that she now slept with a night light plugged into her wall, and he'd sent an intern out to buy one for her room at the tower. She had to sleep with background music playing...the silence was too much for her. Too much like that basement. He never asked her about any of it. Couldn't bring himself to. Because it was his fault. He'd gotten those pictures and what had he done? Nothing. Nothing concrete. He'd warned her about them, sure. He'd investigated. He'd increased security.

But he hadn't told her how serious this was. Hadn't taken the time to really drive it home. He'd never, not once, thought to tell her not to go after the New York Lady Killer. Because he'd just assumed that she knew better! Spider-Girl went after local criminals, sure, but not serial killers. She helped tourists find the Statue of Liberty and rescued runaway cats. She stopped muggings and small-time bank robbers.

The Lady Killer had killed six women. He'd almost killed seven.

And now he had a copycat.

Tony hadn't told Penny. As far as he knew, no one had. The first woman had been killed a week after Penny had been rescued from the basement, and Natasha and Steve had been the first ones on it, scouring the city for the person who had taken it upon themselves to try and copy the man who had met his end at the hands of Natasha Romanoff. Sam was working with them, as was Wanda, but Tony hadn't told Penny because he didn't want her to be afraid. Didn't want her to know that more women were being killed. Didn't want to talk to her about serial killers because he was afraid of talking to her about what had happened in that basement. Or about the fact that she'd been kidnapped and tortured while trying to apprehend a serial killer that he should have told her not to go after.

It was his fault and it was her fault and it was the serial killer's fault but the serial killer was dead and he couldn't bring himself to scold her so it was just his fault.

And now she'd gone after the copycat. He'd gotten the call from Sam once again, only this time, Penny hadn't even been missing. As far as Tony had known, she'd been at Ned's. And he'd thought that because she'd explicitly told both him and May that she was going to Ned's. Tony's hands shook as he landed beside the warehouse, glancing over at Sam who gave a quick nod. 

"Where is he?" 

Sam grimaced a little. "It's a woman. Registered nurse. She works at the hospital with May. Natasha has her in custody."

"Custody?"

"We figured flat out killing a second one might be pushing it a bit."

"She's killed three people."

Sam just nodded, lips pursed. Tony took a deep breath, meeting his eyes.

"Where's Spidey?"

"Penny followed her from the hospital."

"Penny," Tony repeated. Because there was a difference. So she hadn't been in her suit.

"She was trying to avoid detection. Apparently she's suspected this woman for a few days."

"A few days," Tony repeated, voice dangerously soft to his own ears. She'd suspected for a few days. "And she didn't say anything?"

"Not to me," Sam confirmed, looking surprisingly calm. 

"Is she hurt?"

"Not a scratch on her," Sam told him, shaking his head.

Good, Tony thought. It was good that she wasn't hurt because he couldn't see himself telling her how stupid all of this had been had she been hurt. He started to push past Sam, but the man held out a hand, clearing his throat softly.

"Tony…"

"Move."

"Tony, she…"

"She's not hurt?" Tony confirmed.

"She's fine."

"Then move."

Sam stared at him for a moment, then nodded, stepping to the side. "Just...go easy on her," the man urged, but Tony ignored him, storming into the warehouse and pausing when he saw the woman laying on the cot on the floor, Steve kneeling at her side and helping her sit up. She looked dazed, and there was blood staining the mattress, so Tony stopped himself from yelling, eyes immediately cutting away from her. That had been Penny less than two months ago. He could have lost her. She could have been killed.

Again.

Penny was standing in the corner on the other side of the room, arms crossed, face pointed to the ground like a child waiting for a scolding. She knew what she'd done. She knew that she was in trouble. Good. She _was_ in trouble. She _should_ feel bad.

"Kid," he ordered, and she looked up at him, face in shadow. Jerking his head toward a side door, he headed straight for it, not looking back to see if she was following. Of course she was.

As soon as they were outside, he engaged his repulsors and headed for the roof, waiting for her to crawl up to join him in her jeans and t-shirt. It was quiet. Almost silent, or as silent as New York City could get. They were close to the river. Close to where the Lady Killer had dumped his first victim. Close to where they'd found Penny's phone. The first victim had her throat slit. She'd been drugged, and tortured. And that could have been Penny. Penny's feet touched the ground almost silently, and he watched as she approached, her head still downcast, arms at her sides. Shoulders back. Face blank. Ready. 

So was he. His anger was like ice, making his hands shake, his heart race, his skin break out in goosebumps.

"What in the everloving fuck were you thinking?" he snapped, his cold voice breaking the silence. Not giving her a chance to answer, he went on. "Less than two months ago, you were nearly killed. Do you get that? You were almost killed and..."

"I know…"

"No you don't!" he shouted, voice too loud, but he couldn't stop because her wrists had been bleeding and she'd been so full of drugs that her lips had been blue and she'd woken up crying or screaming for so long. "You don't know! You don't fucking know Penny! You don't know what it was like to find you in that basement! You have no fucking idea what it was like to almost lose you because you had to run off and play at being a hero! You went after a serial killer! A serial killer that you knew had targeted you! That took photos of you and mailed them to me! That you knew went after women! And then, after that one almost kills you, you go after another one? Without your suit?"

"Mr. Stark…"

"I can't believe you would do something so stupid!"

"She worked with my aunt! I stopped her from killing that woman! I had it handled!" Penny shouted back, taking a step forward, her own fists clenched at her sides, and he couldn't stop himself. Wasn't thinking as he stepped forward, towering over her, fists clenched at his sides.

"You did not have it handled! We found you tied up and drugged in a basement! He was going to kill you! It took you a week to come down off those drugs! You still have scars on your wrists! You can't even sleep without a nightlight! And then you do it again? You find another serial killer that's going after women and you decide, what the hell, I didn't mind being tied up in a fucking basement the first time! Why not try it again?"

And then Penny's breath caught, eyes shutting tight to keep tears from falling as she turned her face away. And, watching her stumble back a step, crouching and crossing her arms over her chest as if to make herself smaller....as if to protect herself, Tony felt every ounce of anger drain away, along with the blood from his face. "Shit," he hissed, looking away, swallowing back bile. "Damn it…" Bringing a hand up to his face, he felt the tears he hadn't even realized he was shedding as they ran down his cheeks.

That man had almost killed her. He could have lost her. And now he was screaming at her because she hadn't wanted to let another woman get hurt.

Part of him wanted to keep going. Wanted to tell her that she should have come to him with her suspicions. That she should have told one of them...any of them, about this before going after this woman by herself. But she was staring at the ground, shoulders shaking with silent sobs, chin tucked to her chest, arms wrapped around herself as if to keep herself safe, and he couldn't do it. He couldn't yell anymore. Because every time he closed her eyes, he saw her in that basement. He saw her blue lips and Sam frantically rubbing at her pale feet. He saw her in the medbay, screaming in her sleep or sobbing in his arms or staring into space as she came down off those drugs before heaving into a bucket and shaking so hard her teeth chattered even though she was covered in the thickest quilts Tony had been able to find. 

Tony gestured for the suit to open, climbing out and wrapping his arms around her as quickly as he could, biting down hard on his lip when she threw her arms around him. It didn't take three seconds for her to let go, sobbing into his shirt, her whole body trembling as her fingers clenched in his shirt. "I'm sorry," he whispered, closing his eyes.

"I...I didn't...mean…" she choked out, unable to get the words out through her sobs.

"Shhhh, it's okay. I'm sorry. You're okay."

"Sorry...sorry, I didn't…" He waited, rubbing her back and trying to breathe calmly, hoping to get her own breathing under control. "I wanted...wanted...to...prove…"

"You wanted to prove that you could do it. That you could save her," he murmured, rocking them back and forth a little. He understood it, because he would have done the same thing. Hell, hadn't he gone right back to Afghanistan after getting out? Granted, he'd done so with a suit. Still.

"I couldn't let her hurt someone else."

Tony pulled back a little, cupping her face in his hands and feeling his heart clench painfully when he saw the tears and her red-rimmed eyes. "Penny...kid, you can't do this kind of stuff alone. You just can't." He wiped a thumb under her eye. "I know that you're capable, Pen. I swear, ask anyone. I won't shut up about how you're going to be the best of us. But this kind of stuff...you've got to call for backup."

"It was my fault. The first time," she whispered, the words bursting out. "I wasn't paying attention. I was texting Ned, and my senses went off…"

"Penny…"

"You were right! He took me by surprise and...and he drugged me and he kept drugging me and I couldn't think but I should have…"

"Hey, stop," he murmured, shaking his head. "No. I was not right. I shouldn't have been yelling at you in the first place. And it wasn't your fault that he attacked you. It wasn't your fault that you couldn't get away. He had you so full of drugs it's a wonder he didn't kill you."

"He said he would," Penny told him in a voice so soft that he almost didn't hear. "He...he said he was going to leave my body by the tower. So you'd find me."

Tony shook a shuddering breath and pulled her close again, feeling his heart race in his chest as he pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"I couldn't move. I couldn't think. But I knew he was going to kill me. And...and I couldn't let someone else go through that. Not when I could stop it."

Tony squeezed her hard and nodded. "I know."

"I didn't want someone that loved her to find her in an alley."

"I know, honey," he whispered into her hair. "I get it. Hey," he pulled back and tilted her chin up, giving her a tenuous smile. "I'm not mad. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled like that. I was...I was freaking out. When we found you...I was so scared, Pen. I thought we were going to lose you. And...and I know that you're a hero in your own right. I know that you can handle yourself. But...please. If you run into something like this again...please, for me...call for backup."

She nodded immediately, wiping at her cheeks. "I promise."

He smiled, resting a hand on her shoulder, trying to slow his still-racing heart. "Alright, Pen. Let's get back to the tower." And then he climbed back into the suit, gestured for her to climb on, and flew back towards safety, knowing he'd want to keep her in his sight for the foreseeable future, but also knowing that was impossible. So he'd just have to trust her to call for help if she needed it.

And if that failed, he'd put more trackers in her stuff.


End file.
